As we wrap up 2015, it is a great time to reflect on what WiMM has accomplished over the past 12 months.

Last year was a year of growth for our association. We continued fruitfully by connecting with both old and new friends and by partnering with organizations in Mongolia and around the globe. Through WiMM’s collaborations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Canada as well as with Canada Mongolia Chamber of Commerce, we succeeded in nominating three Mongolian mid-level professional women to participate in the intergovernmental forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development organized by the Canadian International Resources and Development Institute. We reached out to four mining schools in Mongolia to organize the guest speakers series and to collaborate in joint research projects as well as the SwissAid Sustainable Artisanal Mining Project which connected women to artisanal miners.The World Bank noted in its 2013 paper that there exists a scarcity of research and data on women’s participation in the mining sector of Mongolia. Understanding that better data and research on the roles of Mongolian women contributing to the mining sector should facilitate the government’s mining and gender policies, in March through to August 2015, WiMM carried out a survey on the role of women in the country’s extractive industry covering 8,400 people from the mining labour force. The preliminary research data show many exciting facts, interesting findings and conclusions. For example, the share of women in the mining industry’s workforce is more than 30 percent which is well above similar numbers in many other predominantly mining economies, and the share of women working at a top, decision-making level is 17 percent which is above the world average for that matter. In the coming months, WiMM is planning to hold a roundtable to introduce and discuss the findings of this research and to seek funding for the publication and distribution of these results.